Category: DIY

Like many others, I have an obsession with DIY crafts. You see that expensive, vintage item? I can make a replica for half the price. I will also admit that my crafting board on Pinterest is bursting to the seams with ideas which could fill not just one but two houses. I love it though! As I progress through my never-ending list of projects, I’ll give you guys the inside scoop on what I learned “Doing It Myself.”

Like this:

My first DIY home décor project started simply enough. I wanted a rustic looking chalkboard for the kitchen that I could write notes and shopping lists on and after perusing the web I found that finding a large enough one was going to extremely expensive. Well as luck would have it someone in my complex had just thrown one out and my husband snagged it from the trash before the treasure was lost forever. Originally there was a fat, rather ragged looking chef screwed into the top and the colors weren’t quite right for my kitchen. So the DIY began with removing the chubby cook and sanding off all the paint.

One person’s trash…

Once the surface was clean and maroon-free, I applied a fresh coat of black chalk paint, using painters tape to protect the edges. I wanted a layered look so I first applied a coat of gray to the frame and then spray painted burst of black in random spots around the frame. While the paint was still wet I applied glue (just regular Elmer’s) in a thick, goopy layer and then covered that with a layer of cream paint. The glue causes the layers of paint to dry at separate times which caused the warps and swirls.

By far the most difficult part of the entire project was cutting out my stencil. Gods above! I’m just considering buying one next time. But of course I had to be authentic and truly “do it myself.” Once the design was finally cut out, I used painters tape to hold it down and a mini sponge brush to fill it in. Now because my background was black I applied a layer of cream paint first and then painted over that with the finial colors. The stencil I chose I found online (got to love Google) and I picked it because it was very traditional, cozy, and rustic.

All in all, I am quite happy with the final result and it has been great to have a large surface to write notes back and forth to my husband! Give the glue trick a try when you want to create a weathered look. Remember, the thicker you but on the glue the wider the swirls or cracks. Also, the spray paint you use should be a gloss finish. I used matte and I was not prepared for how fast it dried!